72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

Just got the rear bumper back from TriCity Plating. They did a really nice job on the rechroming. The finish on the outer surface is flawless: no scratches, dings, waves, peels, etc. I used them before for my Charger and was very pleased - I bought a Charger rear bumper from them at Carlisle back in 2004 that they had in stock. This time they didn't have any 70-73 Firebird bumpers so I brought them my core at Spring Carlisle and they did it in 8 weeks as promised. Price was reasonable at $300 including return shipping.

Here is the before shot. The inside of the bumper had been the victim of a very poor replating which had delaminated/peeled and the rusted. I removed all the brackets and stripped and repainted them while TriCity had the bumper.





Here's the finished piece. The black smudges on the back are actually black RTV silcone sealer. I make it a habit of smearing a line of it around the perimeter of the back of the bumper. It really helps to prevent any future problems with the plating lifting on formerly rusted surfaces, especially the sharp edges, if you keep all moisture away from the area. Since the backside was heavily pitted from the previous bad prep and rust, this should hold it for the next 20 years or so.





Here's the outer surface. I dug through my old collection of bumper bolts and found 10 original flat capped bolts. I polished them up nicely and installed them on the bumper The bolts they sell today just aren't the same in terms of the way the caps "dome out". They should be nearly flat to be correct. (sorry about the glare and smudges -its nearly impossible to get a good photo of chrome)